Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1887-1890, 1887-07-16
THE JUDITH BASIN.
Hints tor Young SettIers-How Peo'
pie Start in one Of our Trib-
utarY Districts.

pie Start in one Of our Trib-
utary Districts.
The Northwest Magazine for July con-
tains an interesting article On the Judith
Basin in Fergus county, signed by E. j. N.
TO Philbrook. Appended is an extract
therefrom:
ONE OF THE LEADING INDUSTRIES
of the Judith Basin in Fergus county, and
one upon which the majority Of the in
habitants mainly depend for a livelihood,
is agriculture The land in the basin at
present devoted to this industry is princi-
pal1y bottom-land lying along the creeks
and rivers. We will take as an illustra-
tration the course easily pursued by the
farmer or ranchmen-these terms are syn
onomous-who is just starting in business.
He first furnishes himself with team
and proceeds to the mountains where he
procures the logs necessary for temper
ary dwelling. This being accomplished
ne fences his ranch, procuring the posts
and poles from the mountains. | will
speak here of a past misfortune which has
become present blessing When the
timber on the mountain sides is in any
manner destroyed a very thick new growth,
usually of pine or fir, replaces it. This
new growth by reason of its density grows
straight and slender, and fire running
through it simply kills without destroying
it. This is the misfortune. The blessing
being that the fire having killed the tall
and slender young trees leaves them to
dry, and the ranchman finds his posts and
poles thoroughly seasoned when he@ cuts
them. This seems doubly blessing
when some of the rulings of the present
land office are taken into consideration.
IRRIGATION.
After plowing and seeding the ground,
which does not differ in modus operand5
from that pursued in the east, he proceeds,
when necessary, to irrigate his crop, which
is done very easily and at small expense,
owing to the peculiar formation of the
land and its relative position to the water
courses. The interval between seed-time
and harvest is occupied in doing all those
little things that tend to make his home
more pleasant and providing those coven-
fences which enable him to conduct his
ranch more profitably, as the building of
corrals and shelter for his stock. In this
manner his time is fully occupied until
the haying season, during which he fully
appreciates the dryness of the season and
the extrme infrequency of the showers.
Rain so seldom falls thata shower is not
only unexpected but not even provided
for. The hay is cut and lies on the ground
till it is cured, when it is raked up and
hauled in to the stacks, which is often
done Immediately after cutting, so quick
ly does the dry atmosphere cure it. Har-
vesting comes soon, if not Immediately,
after haying, and is usually an agreeable
surprise to the farmer if he has recently
come from the east, as the yield per acre
is almost always far in excess of anything
he has been accustomed to in the states.
AN IMMENSE YIELD.
will cite few instances illustrating
this excessive yield: A thresher kept an
account of the number of bushels of wheat
nd acres from which it was cut. and found
at the end of the season that the yield in
the localities where he had worked was
forty five bushels per acre. The writer
knows of one small field of wheat that
yielded seventy six bushels per acre and
another one on sod ground over thirty
bushels per acre. Oats yield on we'll
titled ground from sixty to seventy-five
bushels per acre, and in some instances
have been known to produce 110 bushels.
The figures given are measured bushels,
which would show much larger if reek-
oned by weight, for oats weigh thirty
eight to forty-fve pounds per bushel,
and sometimes exceed fifty pounds, while
it is not uncommon for wheat to weigh
from seventy to seventy-fye pounds per
bushel. These statistics compare favora-
bly, with those given by the agricultural
department for the states In the report
for 1882, pages 1894, five winter-wheat
producing states produced an average of
seventeen bushels per acre, and five
spring wheat states eleven bushels per
acre, while in oats the average from 1871
to 1881 was twenty eight bushels per acre
for all the states, while the highest and
lowest average of any state during that
time was thirty-one and fourtenths and
twenty two bushels per acre.